After a long period of work and research, the seniors have been finishing up their capstone projects, which will be formally presented to the NDB community later in April.

The capstone project is designed to encompass a student’s passion and give them an opportunity to share it with the community. Students are able to work with a partner or by themselves to create a project that incorporates skills that NDB has taught them.

“The idea is that it brings everything together and it’s an opportunity for students to apply what they’ve learned, to take what they’ve learned and apply it to a real-life situation,” said Spiritual Life teacher Helen Ciernick. “And on a practical level, to gain experience managing a large project.”

“It prepares them not only for college; it prepares them for life and for their career,” Ciernick added.

Usually, this project is the main focus of the senior year religion class curriculum. However, NDB has recently decided to switch the project to junior year, so this year’s senior class experienced the transition between the two different approaches to the capstone project.

“I think the project would’ve been more efficient if it were done within the span of two semesters,” shared senior Ashley Mullarkey. “It would’ve been easier to remain on track and prioritize the assignment.”

Although it was a little more difficult for this year’s seniors to navigate this transition, students in the future will be able to benefit from this switch.

“[The senior class] had an exceptionally challenging time,” Ciernick commented. “The different experience [the juniors] will have is that it can go on their college applications.”

Due to this transition, seniors worked on their projects for a large part of junior year as well as almost all of senior year. Another aspect of this unique schedule was the impact of COVID-19 on the students’ abilities to work.

Initially, students began their projects through Zoom and had to work with a very limited amount of resources and opportunities as compared to what past seniors have done. Students this year also will not be doing the traditional presentations before all of their parents, which is another change that came along with the pandemic. Instead, they will be making video presentations and sharing them in their religion classes.

“I like the video presentation more because it allows for a more personal presentation,” Mullarkey added.

Some students think that this is an easier way to approach the project, whereas some think that it is a complicated addition to an already complex project.